Virtual reality systems that use head-mounted displays (HMDs) are attracting users by offering the potential of full sensory immersion in virtual environments. In order to create an illusion of full sensory immersion, a near-eye display of a HMD requires very heavy image processing and image rendering workloads. Low latency, high framerate, and high visual quality are all needed. Tethered virtual reality systems in which the HMD is bound to a server computer provide limited mobility and exploration, and are difficult to deploy widely. Mobile virtual reality systems in which untethered HMDs communicate with a server computer wirelessly are therefore being developed. However, it is common that the graphic processing units (GPUs) used in current wirelessly connected HMDs are too power-constrained to produce an acceptable framerate and latency, even for scenes of modest visual quality.
The development of new virtual reality systems using untethered HMDs will implement more powerful display and data processing technologies that will be able to take advantage of improved/faster data transmission techniques. These developments will provide an improved immersive virtual reality experience that minimizes perceivable visual artifacts and/or the introduction of substantial latency in the displayed virtual environment.